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Snorlax/FRLG
Snorlax can be found on Routes 12 and 16 in both games. It is a static encounter that must be awakened with the Poké Flute. Snorlax is, hands down, the best Normal-type anyone can get in Kanto. There is nothing that absorbs special hits better than Snorlax in this game, and not much in other games, either. And it is a static encounter, meaning every nuzlocker is guaranteed to get one. However, catching Snorlax is, in and of itself, a risky mission. Coming at level 30, and with the beast Attack stat it has, its Headbutt will leave a mark in just about anything that moves. There is, however, an easy workaround to both keep Snorlax alive and not rush capturing this fat behemoth: catching a Gastly or Haunter in the Lavender Tower first. Since Snorlax's only offensive moves are Headbutt and Snore, but Snore is not too strong, the ghost can stall it out as it uses Headbutt and then Spite its PP until they drop to 0. After the only PPs it has left are of Snore, Rest and/or Sleep Talk, Snorlax can be whittled down by any Pokémon that can take Snore. Remember that, in this generation, Struggle does not chip away 25% of the user's HP, so even if Snorlax does go down to 0 PP overall, it will take a long time to kill itself with Struggle, which further simplifies capture. Of course, do not poison it or burn it, or use Leech Seed and/or other moves that drain HP every turn, or Snorlax might just faint before it gets caught. Rather, bring a Pokémon that can put it to sleep if there is one available. Failing that, something that can inflict paralysis is good enough. Fixed damage moves, such as SonicBoom and Seismic Toss, are also better weakeners than variable damage moves when Snorlax's HP is low, as they will never score a critical hit. If the strategy succeeded and there is now a Snorlax on the team, then rejoice: it is now the time for the fatty fatso to mercilessly wreck Kanto, and nothing (sans half of Bruno's team) will ever stop it. Important Matchups * Gym #3 - Lt. Surge (Vermilion City, Electric-type): Curbstomp everything with Snorlax's chosen Normal STAB. Shock Wave can barely tickle it. * Gym #4 - Erika (Celadon City, Grass-type): Curbstomp everything with Snorlax's chosen Normal STAB. All of Erika's Pokémon have moves that deal little to no damage to Snorlax; at worst, they can annoy it with status moves, but nothing Rest or healing items cannot fix. * Gym #5 - Koga (Fuchsia City, Poison-type): The two Koffing can kill Snorlax with a critical Selfdestruct, but so can Snorlax with a non-critical Body Slam. Muk and Weezing are more difficult, as they can pull accuracy modifier moves on Snorlax. Yawn them - especially Muk, which has Minimize - and then wear them down as fast as possible. Thankfully Snorlax is good at taking hits. * Fighting Dojo (Saffron City, Fighting-type): This and the Bruno fight are the only bad matchups for Snorlax. Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan both 2HKO with their respective Fighting moves, and Snorlax can do no better. * Rival (Silph Co.): Nothing here has Fighting coverage, nor particularly threatening physical moves. Go ahead and Body Slam everything. The only possible nuisance (not threat) is Gyarados, particularly since it has Intimidate, but Snorlax can more than take a hit from it, especially as its best move is Dragon Rage, which deals a fixed amount of damage... off Snorlax's monster-level base HP. * Giovanni (Silph Co., Ground-type): Normal STAB of choice takes care of everything but Rhyhorn, which can be offed with Brick Break in two hits; its Rock Blast is highly unlikely to do the same, since a five-hit strike would still merely 2-3HKO. Of all Pokémon, Kangaskhan is the strongest, but Snorlax's bulk is more than sufficient to take repeated Mega Punches until it falls (Body Slam is a 3HKO). Heal as needed; Snorlax is slow, it will likely take hits from everything but Rhyhorn. * Gym #6 - Sabrina (Saffron City, Psychic-type): Got Shadow Ball? Use it. No Shadow Ball? Either go buy it, or use Body Slam. Snorlax's Attack puts the Defense of all of Sabrina's team to shame, 2HKOing all of her Pokémon in the worst case scenario; even her ace, Alakazam, is 2HKOed by both Shadow Ball and Body Slam. Only one warning: Venomoth can confuse Snorlax, and Snorlax will deal itself considerable damage if it stays confused. Bring Full Heals and keep Snorlax healthy, as Sabrina's Pokémon will use every free turn to power themselves up with Calm Mind. * Gym #7 - Blaine (Cinnabar Island, Fire-type): A Thick Fat Snorlax laughs at Blaine. Even one that has Immunity will not take much damage from Fire Blast, though it will need to negate Intimidate when Arcanine comes; Growlithe's and Arcanine's Intimidate stacked up will make Fire Blast outdamage Snorlax's Normal STAB, but restoring its Attack stat to normal will fix that. As always, spam Normal STAB of choice. * Gym #8 - Giovanni (Viridian City, Ground-type): A mix of Body Slam or Return, plus Brick Break, is what Snorlax needs in this fight. Brick Break is for the two Rhyhorn. Alternatively, Snorlax can just teach it Surf temporarily; even with Snorlax's low Special Attack, the double weakness will guarantee the OHKO against them. Be careful only against Nidoking: it can 3-4HKO with their Earthquake, and Snorlax's Body Slam is barely a 2HKO; a healthy Snorlax will have no problems, but for wounded ones, healing items will be needed to pull off a gym solo. * Rival (Route 22, pre-Elite Four): A combination of Shadow Ball, Brick Break, and either Body Slam or Return will win Snorlax the fight. Normal STAB works very well against anything not called Rhyhorn or Alakazam; Rhyhorn can be 2HKOed by Brick Break and Alakazam is better disposed of with Shadow Ball, which scores a clean OHKO. As usual, carry healing items to restore Snorlax's health in between fights, if Snorlax plan on soloing. * Elite Four Lorelei (Indigo Plateau, Ice-type): Use Brick Break to plough through everything that is not Slowbro or Jynx, against which Snorlax should just resort to Shadow Ball. * Elite Four Bruno (Indigo Plateau, Fighting-type): Brick Break 2HKOs the two Onix. Hitmonlee can be OHKOed with Return, as its only Fighting STAB is Brick Break, which hardly manages to 2HKO Snorlax. Snorlax is only at a decisive disadvantage against Hitmonchan and Machamp; the former has Counter and cannot be OHKOed, making it absurdly dangerous for a fully physically-oriented Pokémon, whereas the latter outdamages Snorlax and 2HKOs with Cross Chop, a super effective high critical hit ratio move. Snorlax should avoid both of them. * Elite Four Agatha (Indigo Plateau, Poison-type): Pummel through Haunter and Gengar with Shadow Ball, then either Body Slam or Return the rest. Such challenge, very GG, wow. * Elite Four Lance (Indigo Plateau, Dragon-type): It is advised to negate Gyarados' Intimidate somehow, before letting Snorlax handle the rest; the Attack nerf will impair its 2HKO chances. Return is more helpful than Body Slam against Lance, since Gyarados and Dragonite are bulky, though both moves will averagely 3HKO, with only Return having low 2HKO chances. Dragonite's Hyper Beam, the most painful move for Snorlax to take, is only a 3HKO, so careful healing as needed will win Snorlax this matchup. * Champion Rival (Indigo Plateau): Spam Normal STAB against everything except Rhydon and Alakazam; the latter will take more damage from Shadow Ball, though Return also has high chances of OHKOing. With the sole exclusion of Rhydon, everything relies mostly on special hits, which Snorlax is very good at taking. As for Rhydon, either temporarily teach Surf and use it, or Snorlax will need to switch out or heal-stall; Snorlax does not enjoy Earthquake and, even though it merely 3HKOs, so does Snorlax's Brick Break, which deals less damage. * Post-Game: Snorlax can absorb Mewtwo's hits almost like nothing, and dish out pain with Shadow Ball. It is one of the few Pokémon that can take on the titanic legendary and tear it apart with relative ease. Moves Snorlax starts with Headbutt, Yawn, Rest and Snore. Headbutt, being a Normal-type STAB with nice base power running off 110 base Attack, is really powerful at this point. The other moves are not great, though Yawn has some use and Rest is great to have for players with limited or banned healing items. It learns Body Slam at level 33, which is a good Headbutt upgrade until Snorlax reaches the necessary friendship value to use Return at its full power. At level 37, it gets Sleep Talk, but it is no good. Ignore Block at level 41 as well. Level 45 sports Covet, which Snorlax will not want unless there is a need to farm items. Rollout comes at level 49, and with Snorlax's raw power it is just useless. Similarly, Hyper Beam at level 53 should not be used. Snorlax gets better damage output by using Body Slam twice, and there is no risk of too much damage being taken in the meantime (Snorlax is slow, so it will need to take two hits before it finishes recharging). Its TM pool is where the real fun begins. Earthquake is a good move to have, though it comes fairly late in the game. Shadow Ball is much better in that department, offering Snorlax almost all the coverage it needs beyond Normal STAB, and also being a great weapon to face Sabrina with. Brick Break, together with Shadow Ball, offers perfect coverage. Snorlax also strangely has a wealth of special options, such as Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower and even Psychic and SolarBeam, but with its mediocre Special Attack they are not really worth it, except perhaps in the event it faces a Pokémon that has a double weakness to those moves. Naturally, Return can also replace Body Slam after Snorlax's friendship hits the top. For lovers of raw power, Double-Edge is the best tutor option. Snorlax's over-the-top HP stat makes it take comparatively less recoil damage than most other Pokémon would. Most of the time, however, the difference in power between Return and Double-Edge will not be significant - what Return cannot OHKO, Double-Edge rarely can. Substitute is available for Snorlax to run Focus Punch, though this option is not ideal, since Snorlax's moveslots are better employed in other ways. Rock Slide is a good option, but Brick Break and Shadow Ball put together outclass it, both in terms of coverage and accuracy. Recommended moveset: Body Slam / Return / Double-Edge, Shadow Ball, Brick Break, Yawn Recommended Teammates * Psychic- or Ghost-types: Since Snorlax can do so much on its own, anything that can take on the Fighting-types Snorlax hates will essentially complete it. Psychic- and Ghost-types are best for this role, particularly Psychic-types, which offer both offensive and defensive coverage against Fighting. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Alakazam, Slowbro, Gengar, Hypno, Exeggutor, Starmie, Jynx * Fast hitters: Realistically, Snorlax's slowness will not be a problem, as it can take hits very well. However, it may still be convenient to have a fast Pokémon on board, in fights where someone needs to deal the finishing blow or even simply just to beat enemies more quickly. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Alakazam, Rapidash, Gengar, Starmie, Electabuzz, Tauros, Jolteon, Aerodactyl Other Snorlax's stats * What Nature do I want? Adamant or Brave are the best, since they take away from Snorlax's unused stats. Anything minus Special Attack or minus Speed, however, is good by default. Losing Defense would probably not hurt it much either, but watch out for physical hits in that case. * Which Ability do I want? Thick Fat can make it even stronger against Fire- and Ice-types, making them a joke for Snorlax, and is likely its best option. Immunity does protect it from poisoning, but Rest and healing items are there for a reason. * How good is Snorlax in a Nuzlocke? Godlike. Its mediocre Defense does not impair it in any visible fashion, since its base HP stat is exceptional and it only has one weakness; there is a grand total of one in-game type specialist with a Fighting team, not counting the (optional) Fighting Dojo. Snorlax hits like a truck and takes hits like a brick wall. There is nothing more one could possibly want from a Pokémon. * Weaknesses: Fighting * Resistances: None * Immunities: Ghost * Neutralities: Normal, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Steel, Fire, Bug, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Dark Category:FireRed/LeafGreen Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses